Projects:

The Branch Libraries

1. Bronx Library Center (One Student)
This project gives students a unique and substantial opportunity to observe and give library service to a diverse population in an urban setting of New York City. Participants will work at the Bronx Library Center, a new state-of-the-art central library for the borough of the Bronx. This 78,000 square foot library, opened to the public in January 2006 and situated in a bustling and central commercial hub of the Bronx, offers a wide array of services, programs, and collections not only to the neighborhood but to the 1.5 million residents throughout the Bronx. An intern at the Bronx Library Center will work with Librarians in the Reference Room as well as observe public service desks in all parts of the library including the Latino/Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Children's Room, Teen Center, and Center for Reading and Writing. This internship also offers the possibility of observing and participating in technology training programs, school visits, presentations at community agencies, and cultural and educational programs offered in the Bronx Library Center's 150 seat auditorium. An intern will come away with a stronger knowledge of community based library service as well as a better understanding of programs and services offered at the 34 New York Public Library Bronx neighborhood branches.


2. Staten Island Libraries Technology Intern (Up to Four Students)
Interns will receive an introduction to the New York Public Library and branch library work. They will be assigned to work in one branch library on Staten Island. They will receive an introduction to NYPL electronic databases and other resources and services and local neighborhood. Interns will work with the branch Adult/Reference Librarians helping patrons with computer use, printing, troubleshooting, electronic scheduling of patron sessions. They will prepare and present a computer training class in the topic of their choice. They will work with the branch staff to plan and implement outreach to the local community about library computer programs. Additional special projects can be arranged.


3. Children's or Young Adult Services Intern (Up to Four Students)
Interns receive an introduction to the New York Public Library and branch library work. They will be assigned to work in one branch library on Staten Island. They will receive an introduction to NYPL electronic databases and other resources and services and local neighborhood. Interns will work with the children's or young adult librarians presenting school class visits, reading aloud programs, arts and crafts, and other special programs. They will plan and prepare exhibits and displays. They will assist with computer use, printing, troubleshooting, scheduling (technical questions only). They will work with the branch staff to plan and implement outreach to the local community about children's and young adult programs and activities. Additional special projects can be arranged


4. Health Information Intern (Up to Four Students)
Interns will receive an introduction to the New York Public Library and branch library work. They will be assigned to work in one branch library on Staten Island. They will receive an introduction to NYPL electronic databases and other resources and services and local neighborhood. Interns will work with adult and reference librarians on special programs in health-related areas and in presenting a computer class on health-related resources. They will help with inventory and collection maintenance for the health materials collections and help plan appropriate exhibits and displays. They will work with the branch staff to plan and implement outreach to local health agencies. Additional special projects can be arranged.


5. Reference Services Intern (Up to Four Students)
Interns will receive an introduction to the New York Public Library and branch library work. They will be assigned to work in one branch library on Staten Island. They will receive an introduction to NYPL electronic databases and other resources and services and local neighborhood. Interns will work with the reference librarian at the St. George Library Center on the indexing of the Staten Island Advance (local newspaper) project. They will help coordinate materials of the Community Information Collection to gain a better knowledge of local community resources and how they are utilized by patrons. They will help scan issues of the Staten Island Historian for inclusion in the digital resources of the New York Public Library in the Staten Island on the Web section of the nypl.org Web site. They will prepare and present a computer training class in the topic of their choice.


6. Internship in Young Adult Services (One Student)
Interested in young adult services in a busy, fast-paced urban library? For this internship, you will spend your week at the Donnell Library Center's Teen Central, located in Midtown Manhattan. Teen Central is an oasis for NYC youth, providing a comfortable, cool environment exclusively for teens. Surround sound stereo plays music from the collection, while teens lounge in comfortable chairs, or use the quiet-study area. You will have the opportunity to work with NYPL staff on a variety of daily tasks, including public service, programs and classes, and class visits. In addition, you will spend one day with the centralized Office of Young Adult Services, the division of the Library responsible for coordinating all library services and programming for teens across the entire Branch Library system. You will also have the opportunity to learn about homeworkNYC.org., a joint venture by the public libraries of New York for children and young adults. For more information on Teen Central, and on YA services at NYPL, visit the Teen Link site.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

7. Music Research Division (One Student)
The Music Research Division seeks an intern to work specific projects. Based on the intern's background, interest and ability, and the needs of the division, an appropriate project will be assigned. These projects and activities could include Searching catalogs to determine our acquisitions, Searching CATNYP for duplicate material, or Testing and barcoding *MEC classmark for mass deacidification project. The intern will also have an opportunity to attend staff meetings, sit on reference desks and observe first hand the broad range of reference experiences that are part of the day-to-day operations of a large research library.

Science, Industry and Business Library

8. SIBL Information Services (One Student)
Working in Information Services of the nation's largest pubicly accessible business and science library, the intern will have a substantial opportunity for participant observation at all public service desks, the McGraw Information Services Center, the Cullman desk in SIBL's bustling circulating branch, and at telephone reference. Reviewing the responses to the week's email reference and smallbiz@nypl.org transactions will offer hands-on look at how the resources at a major research library are used by entrepreneurs and business start ups. The intern will have terrific exposure to the range of classes that SIBL gives on a walk in basis to the general public as well as those sessions customized for metro area school, university, professional and business groups. Other SIBL departments such as Technical Processing and Access Services are delighted to offer interning students in-depth overviews of their daily operations and special projects.

The Research Libraries/Technical Services

9. Wilson Processing Project (One Student)
The Wilson Processing Project of the New York Public Library has a unique opportunity for an archival student to assist in the inventory of the backlog of performing arts collections at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The student will work with the senior archivist from the Wilson Project and staff from the units of the Performing Arts Library to create a database of the backlog collections, quantify size, briefly describe formats included and identify potential preservation issues.

Humanities and Social Sciences Library

10. Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy: Reference Bootcamp (One Student)
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of reference have been greatly exaggerated. The Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy serves the varied research needs of thousands of onsite and remote users each year. Questions encountered cover a wide range of historical topics and require work with primary source records such as Census schedules, city directories, newspaper backfiles, immigration lists, etc. Even if you don't expect to work in a genealogical library, you will discover resources that are incredibly useful to researchers in many other fields, such as biography, history, art, and architecture. If you are interested in a career in reference services, an internship with the Milstein Division will place you at the information desk with experienced staff and involve you in hands-on historical research. Opportunities to attend NYPL staff committee meetings, classes, or other training sessions scheduled during the week of the internship will be provided.


11. The Photography Collection and Digital Library Program: Curatorial/Digital -- Creation of a Digital Collection (One Student)
The Photography Collection and the Digital Library Program seek a student intern to coordinate the on-line presentation of a collection of photographs in the Digital Gallery. The collection, Doors NYC, comprises approximately 3,100 digital images scanned from original negatives taken by the photographer Roy Colmer in New York City in 1976. The complete project is part of the Library's Photography Collection. Previous experience processing and creating metadata for visual materials is preferred.

Participant Comments

"I worked on cleaning up metadata to be imported into the Oracle database for the Digital Gallery, which will then be associated with the visual artifacts and later posted to the live Web site. Additionally, I sat in on a number of meetings with different departments and learned about the overall workflow of producing new records for the Digital Gallery.

"I enjoyed the staff of the DIU, learning about the process in detail, attending meetings, and getting some hands on experience with the system.

"I liked that each day had a new agenda and allowed me to experience the multifaceted nature of the library and the department. It was also interesting to learn about the development of the Digital Gallery and all the components and departments that must work together in order to produce new material.

"Additionally, I had an opportunity to give feedback on the UI of the Digital Gallery and HADES, which is the backend interface for handling and arranging the metadata.

"The organization was very concerned with how the students were doing with their respective projects. They hosted two tours and two breakfasts and seemed very engaged. The HR department was available to field questions about local interests, which was also nice. Janet Murray, my supervisor, is an interesting and engaging person who always made an effort to stop and explain information and details about a given topic. She also allowed me to tag along on meetings and provided a lot of background on the organization and the department."


12. Access and Reader Services/Periodicals Section: Current Literary Magazines (One Student)
The library seeks an intern to assist with a local database to create online bibliographies of current literary and poetry magazines, housed in the DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library. The collection is one of the most extensive in the country and contains many unique, hard-to-find journals. This is a great opportunity for a student interested in literary magazines and small press publications, as well as working with a large serial collection in a research library environment. The student will be trained to search bibliographic utilities, electronic resources, and other sources specific to the independent literary press. We would like an intern who is creative, can work independently, and has an interest and knowledge of literary magazines and small and micro presses. In addition, there will be an opportunity to observe and learn aspects of serial processing and reference at a busy periodicals desk.


13. The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle: Cataloging Rare Books (One Student)
The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle offers an opportunity for an intern with some knowledge of cataloging to learn the basics of rare book cataloging. Most of the materials are in English, and published in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; they include political pamphlets, advice books, and works of poetry and fiction. This project would include doing some original cataloging, as well as complex copy cataloging.


14. The Asian and Middle Eastern Division: Cataloging Asian and Middle Eastern Materials (One Student)
The Asian and Middle Eastern Division seeks a student intern with knowledge of copy cataloging procedures as well as knowledge of one of the following languages: Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Working under the supervision of a librarian, the student would do copy cataloging of monographs. The student with the required language expertise of one of the above-named languages will also assist the librarian with processing current newspapers in these languages.


15. The General Research Division: Collection Development -- Updating the Social Sciences Reference Collection (One Student)
The General Research Division seeks a student with interest in collection development and an academic background in the social sciences. The intern will work with the social sciences bibliographer to update the Rose Main Reading Room collection in one or more of the following subjects: anthropology, sociology, women's studies, gay and lesbian studies, geography, Middle East history, or political science. During the week, the intern will gain experience with various methods of collection development and make recommendations for books to be added to the open shelf collection.


16. The Slavic and Baltic Division: Cataloging Cyrillic Materials (One Student)
The Slavic and Baltic Division seeks a student intern with knowledge of, or willingness to learn, copy cataloging procedures for Russian, Ukrainian, and/or Belarusian materials. The student will work under the supervision of the principal cataloger, with assistance from other professional staff as needed. The student would search for copy and input NYPL-specific information. Materials involved include both titles from the historic collections for which no online NYPL record exists, as well as more recent backlogged imprints. This is a unique opportunity to work in one of the great Slavic collections in North America.

Participant Comments

"I looked up entries in OCLC, and if I found them, slapped a barcode on the book. The people in the division were very friendly. The project didn't have much of an impact on my plans. That was really fine, though, because I loved being in the city and found that I really wouldn't mind living there after graduation. I probably will be more likely to apply to jobs there than if I hadn't gone.

"Everyone else I met at the NYPL was really excited about our program and they all wanted to make sure we got as much out of it as possible. Highlights were getting to know my classmates better, visiting with friends in NYC who I hadn't seen in a while, and the royal treatment we received from the folks at the NYPL (two free breakfasts, and they are even contemplating offering the interns free Metrocards next year!)."